A shortage of syringes is hampering plans to vaccinate people in Democratic Republic of Congo against a yellow fever epidemic despite the arrival of more than one million doses of vaccine, health officials said on Tuesday. Congo's government declared a yellow fever epidemic last month in the capital Kinshasa and two other provinces near the border with Angola. Kabambi said some 1.08 million vaccine doses had arrived in Kinshasa in recent days, but declined to say when he thought more syringes might be delivered. Health officials are reluctant to begin the vaccination campaign in only one zone in densely-populated Kinshasa for reasons of public safety and order. "So we're going to wait a little to obtain more (syringes)."

Source: The Star July 06, 2016 05:53 UTC